As controversial plans for the ‘rationalisation’ of vital maternity and children’s Accident & Emergency services in the North London area come before the Council’s key Overview & Scrutiny Committee today, Lib Dem Health spokesperson Cllr Neil Williams is raising concerns on how the changes may affect waiting lists and journey times for patients to local hospitals such as the Whittington and North Middlesex.

The current NHS plans involve concentrating children’s and maternity services at fewer sites in the five boroughs in the North London area, instead of the present spread of services across six north London hospitals. Cllr Williams says that children’s A & E services at certain sites could therefore close, and full reassurances must be given before any ‘rationalisation’ plan takes effect.

Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Cllr Neil Williams (Highgate) comments:

“I will be asking the health authority to explain how any rationalisation plan will affect patients. Parents may have to travel further to take their kids to A & E, and I want to know whether this will be as safe in an emergency.”

Lib Dem London Assembly Health spokeswoman Lynne Featherstone adds:

“Journey times are an issue, but it also concerns me how quickly will children be seen when they get to the enlarged services? If waiting times are increased because not enough extra doctors, nurses and beds are put in place in the centralised units, will children be put at risk? These are questions which must be answered before the Health Service pushes ahead with these plans for North London. I also want to know specifically how they will impact on the two local hospitals, the North Mid and the Whittington.”

Lib Dem Environment Spokesperson Cllr Bob Hare is urging local residents to help crack down on the scourge of dumped cars in the borough. The Highgate councillor has launched a new abandoned vehicles factsheet which gives local residents all the information they need to keep on top of the acute car dumping problem.

The free Lib Dem guide contains details of how to contact the Council and explains the situations in which the Council will or will not act. Cllr Hare says that the problem has become so acute because one in ten vehicles in the borough are now on the road illegally – as many as 10,000 vehicles in total. Sadly, the easiest way for an owner to get rid of such a car when it becomes unwanted is to park it in the street and just walk away.

Bob Hare comments:

“I know from my own local casework that this is one of the most frustrating problems for residents. Cars not registered with the DVLA are often just dumped, even through if traced, the owners can face heavy fines or even imprisonment.

“This new factsheet answers some of the most common questions asked, and we will be distributing it to local residents and associations.”

The factsheet is available here (pdf format).

Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone has secured an extension to the yellow lines at the Onslow Gardens junction with Muswell Hill Road, N10. The action was assured by the Council’s traffic and road safety team last week after Cllr Featherstone passed on concerns that the double yellow lines on the junction, implemented late last year, did not extend far enough to improve access to the road.

Cllr Featherstone (Muswell Hill), who was responsible for bringing the problem of access and visibility at the junction to the attention of the Council originally back in October 2002, is pleased that it is taking action to resolve the issue. She is hopeful that the proposed safety measures will resolve the problem.

Cllr Featherstone comments:

“The Council has assured me that they investigated the site and have approved an extension of parking restrictions in the area. I am pleased that I have been able to assist local residents in having their concerns listened to, investigated and actioned.

“Haringey needs to improve road safety and this kind of measure will improve visibility and access and will go some way to improving safety for both drivers, cyclist and pedestrians in the area.”

Commenting on the decision to award Dukes Avenue, Muswell Hill, runner up in the Worst Rat Run in Britain competition, local Lib Dem councillor Susan Oatway comments:

“Though not exactly welcome news, let’s hope this leads to a greater acknowledgment of the severity of the rat run problem in Dukes Avenue and in the whole of the Muswell Hill area.

“We must have some action from Haringey council and Transport for London to properly engage with local residents about traffic calming in the area. The raised crossing at the primary school is a start, but we know that proper funding can be made available, and a decision is long overdue.

“This rat run award should focus minds on the need for action now.”

Lib Dem councillors are calling for CCTV cameras to help tackle a dumping problem at a Fortis Green depot. Muswell Hill councillor Lynne Featherstone, and Fortis Green’s Matt Davies say that there is a severe dumping problem at the Lynx Depot site near Coppetts Wood, and that the Council has been asked several times to help tackle the problem.

Ms Featherstone says that Haringey has even approached Lynx about installing CCTV at the site and for the installation of more secure fencing, but this has been so far resisted on grounds of cost.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“Dumping hot spots like this need to be tackled, and the Council must ensure that it works closely with the staff at Lynx Depot to see that the situation improves. I have been receiving complaints about this problem for months now.”

Cllr Matt Davies, Fortis Green Ward, comments:

“Lynx and the Council must look more closely at installing CCTV at the site, and catch the dumpers red handed. Action has got to be taken to stop dumping in the area, as one item successfully dumped only encourages more dumping.”

Lib Dem councillors are calling on Haringey Council to improve access for disabled residents in the borough, following the release of figures which show that the Labour run council is well short on its target for disabled access to council buildings

Figures released in the Council’s Best Value report show that only 6.25% of local authority buildings open to the public have suitable access compared to the Council’s own modest target of 9%. Haringey’s figures are also substantially lower than the London-wide average of 22%.

Highgate councillor and health spokesperson Neil Williams comments:

“These figures are very disappointing. I know from my own experience in Highgate that lack of disabled access for residents and visitors to council properties is a serious problem. Much better use can be put to buildings’ which have proper access. The council is way below its own modest target, and it needs to perform better.”

A Highgate Lib Dem councillor is calling for action from Haringey Council after their failure to meet requests for more litterbins in the N6 area. Cllr Neil Williams says he has repeatedly asked the Labour run council to introduce more litter bins in Highgate – and to reinstate bins that have vanished and not been replaced – but the Council has not acted, and are overdue on a promise to consult on new bin locations in the Highgate and Archway areas.

Cllr Williams wants bins missing for months replaced in North Hill, near a primary school, and off Archway Road, near the Magistrates Court, as well as a host of bins in new sites. At the recent ‘Graffiti Summit’, Haringey Council agreed to consult on the location of new bins for Highgate in time for the graffiti clear up now beginning in the west of the borough – but nothing has yet happened.

Cllr Neil Williams comments:

“I know from my postbag that residents in Highgate are fed up waiting for the Council to take some action on replacing bins and installing some new ones in and around Highgate. This has long been promised by Haringey Council, and a number of locations have already been suggested.

“At first, I was told that bins were ‘out of stock’, but then Muswell Hill has had a series of new bins installed. Many Highgate residents ask me for bins in particular locations, which would contribute to a better environment in Highgate.It’s time Highgate received some action from the Council, as residents have waited long enough.”

As Haringey’s graffiti initiative rolls through the west of the borough, local councillor David Winskill has been working with residents to identify graffiti hotspots that the Council needs to tackle. He has submitted a list of sites for cleansing in the west of the Crouch End area.

Councillor Winskill has already passed information on to the Council and says he wants as many residents as possible to report graffiti on the new council hotline on 0845 073 1979 to ensure that the problem is tackled as fully as possible.

Lib Dem councillor David Winskill comments:

“Graffiti is an issue we have campaigned long and hard on. I am pleased that at last Haringey is putting an effort into this most basic civic housekeeping chore.

“It’s therefore crucial that local residents use the new freephone number to give the council the information to clamp down on graffiti in the area.”

Liberal Democrat councillors have expressed deep concern over the length of time families are staying in emergency accommodation in the borough. The figures have been revealed in the Council’s Best Value Performance Plan 2003-2004. They show that families are staying in emergency homes almost twice as long as the Council’s target for 2002/03 with the average stay in bed and breakfast accommodation for a family being almost two years.

The statistics, which include families with dependent children, pregnant women, and unintentionally homeless, display the result of a severe shortage of ‘decent’ accommodation in the borough, with 58% of local authority homes viewed as non ‘decent’ at 1st April 2002.

Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson, David Beacham blames the failure of the Council and successive governments to replace council housing stock over the last 20 years for the housing crisis. Now he is calling for the Council to lobby hard to gain the extra funds needed to improve the housing stock and look at ways to rapidly reduce the time families are having to spend in bedsits and hostels.

Cllr Beacham (Alexandra) comments:

“Decades of neglect by both government and council have brought us to this situation. Tenants have slowly bought up good quality discounted housing stock over the last 20 years and it has not been replenished. The result in 2003 is that much of the accommodation is below the Government’s decent stock standard.

“It is totally unacceptable to have families living in bedsits for the length of time that some of them are. The Council needs to address this situation urgently and make the government aware of how bad the problem has become in Haringey.”